What would us be (if we weren't us)SQW: ArrangedMarriageAU
by ShadowDianne
Summary: The third one! "Yes" She finally said, opening her eyes. "Yes, I feel it"


**A/N Well this is something slightly different from what I have been doing for the past two days but I wanted to write something unexpected to the prompt. So here it is.**

**PS: I'm taking a bit of time with the rest of my fics since I'm mostly writing and reviewing the fics for the SwanQueenWeek, I hope to return to them once the SQW is over, if anyone wants to give me prompts I'm still willing to do them :)**

**Disclaimer: As often, they don't belong to me.**

What would us be (if we weren't us)

Emma Swan looked around her as the committee entered the castle, the shadows of the night already closing their jaws behind them. She breathed again once the princess and the dozen of guards, including herself, that had accompanied her were safely inside of it. As she helped the young woman with the bridles she glanced at the rocky walls of the place, the torches already lighten up for the night, the smells of burned wood and rotten vegetables the expected ones. She automatically bowed when the king saluted at Snow White who appeared much less nervous than when they had started their journey.

"Your Highness" Stated the Nolan king, his smile wide and welcoming as Snow bowed and blushed, glancing behind the king's open arms to the frame of a certain prince.

"It's a pleasure to finally being able to meet you" Said the young prince approaching the brunette and Emma seized him up, content that he looked well-built as well mannered. Snow White was certainly lucky with her soon to be husband and she was happy of it.

She loved the young woman as a sister after all and when the woman had informed that she was going to get married with David Nolan, the prince of the Gray Kingdom, she had been slightly worried given the reputation of David's younger brother; James. But, all in all, the blonde knight could finally breathe relieved that David seemed to be the opposite of his sibling.

"Pleasure is mine" Responded the brunette beauty and Emma needed to fight back a snort, remembering the nervous state in which the younger woman had been the previous night.

"We are having a banquet in your honour; your guards will be taken to the barns so please ask the servants to carry your belongings to your future chambers" Continued the king, looking slightly displeased that his son had decided to talk to the princess before the ending of his speech. Seeing his dark eyes Emma shivered, the man looked friendly but he was certainly a man that loved to be the one in charge. Preparing herself to turn around and follow the tall servant that was already next to her men she stilled when the princess voice filled the place with her sweet accent, the blush still in full force as she spoke to the king, her eyes looking at the feet of the monarch.

"I would like to take my personal guard with me, Your Majesty"

The king looked at Emma who hadn't moved at all, her green eyes trying not to show the hidden smirk that she was fighting back, leave to Snow to put her future in-law in his place.

"Very well then, both your guard and yourself are going to be taken to your personal chambers, I will tell the servants to prepare another one for… her"

Emma stood at attention and nodded curtly at the king, her eyes still looking at the distance, trying to show respect to the man that was going to be his king from now on. Once both the king and the prince were gone Snow and she were guided to the chambers of the soon to be wed woman, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the various items and presents that were already in the room.

"Could you believe it? The king seemed that he was going to throw a fit" Commented the brunette as Emma stood next to the door, her shoulders still stiff as her hands were in the handle of her sword.

"You know that there aren't many female guards Snow" Answered Emma once she verified that they were alone. "He simply didn't expect it such response, I'm sure that he is as good king as bad man is his younger son"

Snow sighed and nodded, she was accustomed to have Emma around. They have been friends since the blonde had been found next to the castle with only a note saying her name. They have grew up together and once the woman had showed her interest to become a knight Snow's father had permitted that, thinking that if Snow was around her long-time friend she was going to feel more secure that being only around strangers.

Now that the princess was going to be married Emma had found herself doubting that she wasn't going to be able to be next to the princess anymore. She had thought wrong apprently.

"Anyway, you can relax now silly, we are now inside the castle, there is nothing threatening here" Said the brunette, looking expectantly at her friend who smiled tightly before slowly relaxing.

"I really hope so, I'm just tired, the journey had been a tough one with the bad weather, I just hope to not have angered a sorcerer or something like that" Finished Emma with a small smile.

"Don't say that too loud" Replied Snow swatting her friends hand as Emma finally seated in the big bed next to her "They have one here, some woman, apparently she was the apprentice of the Dark One before he passed away"

Emma frowned; she liked magic but not that close to her friend and protégée. Seeing her troubled eyes Snow smiled, she liked how Emma took care of her but she didn't see the point of being scared of magic, the woman was obviously loyal to the king and as far as she had heard she was an exceptional magician.

"Relax, would you? I suppose we are going to meet her this night, she will be and old hag so if anything happens you can put your sword on display"

Emma laughed at that and stuck her tongue out while Snow snickered, both of them remembering the problem that they had encountered a few days prior with a huntsman.

"I don't think that the king or the prince would be happy about that"

Snow smiled dreamily when the prince was mentioned and Emma knew that she had lost her.

"C'mon romantic one, we need to get you ready and the servants are going to be probably here within the next minutes"

As Snow giggled, still thinking about David, Emma let herself relax a little, her mind still thinking about the magician, she really hoped that what Snow had said was right; she really liked magic and found its utility but she also knew that the Dark One had been a ruthless man and even if at the end of his life he had decided to do some good the name was still a nightmare for most of the young in the Enchanted Forest. And apprentice was something that needed recognition and she wasn't sure what to think about it.

"_Well, whatever it is I only need to be sure that Snow is safe"_ Thought as the first servant entered the chamber, the middle aged woman blushing when she saw the blonde who scurried away after saluting the princess formally.

* * *

Regina looked around, trying to seem as distant as ever as both men and women alike eat and talked at her sides. The banquet was slowly turning into something more and she decided to leave the place as soon as she could, intoxication already something that could be seen in various men in front of her.

Sighing, she closed her eyes, trying not to think into the green pupils in which she had been thinking about since the beginning of the banquet.

She had been introduced to the White princess and while she fought back years of Rumplestiskin imposed hate she understood why the dark one had been unnerved by the mellifluous princess and family.

But what it had stolen her attention wasn't the princess but the guard that accompanied her, a tall pale blonde woman with emerald eyes that bored into hers with a force that she needed to made her remember that no one except Rumplstiskin had been able to read her mind.

She hadn't caught her name, she doubted that the King had even uttered it but those powerful eyes were now embedded in her mind.

The woman didn't look powerful or magical but there was something about her, about her features that made herself tremble, some hidden spell perhaps, something that wasn't visible but reflected in those eyes like some interior strength that had made shiver until she was away from them.

"You seem quite bored" Said a voice behind her back and when she turned she found herself looking at those eyes, a shy smile accompanying them.

* * *

Emma wasn't sure what she was doing or why she had approached the magician, her own thoughts were still fresh in her mind, thoughts about being careful with the one that had been the apprentice of the Dark One but as soon as she had looked at those cocoa eyes her thoughts had seemed to disappear from her mind, her doubts and carefully developed speech about how magic was both dangerous and helpful dying on her lips as she saw the beauty of the sorceress. "Lady Regina" That's how the King had presented her, the regal look of the woman competing even with the one she had seen in the Snow's mother, her eyes and lips making her blink as all the air on her lungs was sucked by some kind of mysterious force.

And now there she was, talking to her as if both of them were even in the same social status, she really knew that she weren't, the title accompanying the woman showing that the brunette beauty was nobility one way or another.

"Excuse me?" Asked the woman and Emma felt her knees weak, something that she hadn't even felt before. Glancing at Snow and confirming that the princess was indeed talking with the prince and safe, she decided to keep talking, just for a little more as she looked at the gorgeous, curvaceous brunette, her mouth feeling as dry as the desert that some explorers talked about.

"I supposed that you were bored milady, I'm sorry to have interrupted you" Said, her voice losing strength as Regina's deep chocolate eyes kept looking at her, the red lips of the woman slightly parted, showing alabaster teeth.

"_What is happening to me?"_ Asked to herself as Regina's head tilted to one side.

* * *

"She is gorgeous" Thought Regina as she tried not to stare at those incredible green eyes, the laughs, music and voices fading as the blonde's voice encircled her.

"I'm sorry" She heard and frowned, not quite sure what was the blonde talking about, just as the guard bowed and turned she caught herself talking, her voice a little more deeper than she had intended.

"What's your name?"

The woman guard turned and looked at her, her pale cheeks tinting with red and Regina smiled a little at that, happy of her darker complexion that was hiding a blush of her own.

"My name is Emma, Emma Swan milady"

Regina shake her head as she pointed at the seat that was at her side, the former nobleman seated on it already too occupied in other matters to even worry about the sit.

"I'm not a Lady, I can assure you that" Her smile finally made those deep eyes glint with happiness and she fought back a shiver of pleasure seeing the pink mouth of Emma parting a little.

"I think that calling you sorceress was a bit over the top"

Regina smiled and raised her left shoulder as Emma seated, crossing her arms in a very manly fashion.

"Most certainly, I should name you anything in particular then? Knight seems to be…"

"I am one but Emma would do just fine, I'm not used to be addressed like anything else"

"Then you should call me Regina back, titles are just too complicated given the strange days that we live in"

Emma hummed at that and Regina half-closed her eyes when she felt the same kind of look that she was sure she was giving to the blonde directed at her by the same blonde.

"How one woman becomes the personal guard of a princess?" Asked as she signalled at the raven beauty that was still talking to the prince animatedly.

"I was first her best friend" Replied Emma easily "I was found near the White Castle and the Queen protected me, I was barely a few weeks old, when Snow… I mean the princess was born we both simply became best friends."

Regina nodded at that, even Rumplestiskin hadn't cloak the pureness of the White Queen.

"I heard about her death when I was still an apprentice, I'm sorry for your lose, she must have been a truly remarkable woman"

Emma nodded, feeling sadness tainting her mind for a few seconds before Regina's presence took it away once again.

"She really was one, thank you. Can I ask how a woman can become the personal magician of the Grey Kingdom?"

The brunette looked at her hands, focusing on the golden ring that she had worn for so long that she even didn't remember to be without it.

"I was sold to the Dark One when I had 5 or 6 summers. My parents thought that the best way to grandeur was being a witch. The Dark One became my tutor as soon as I hit 12 and I was with him until the end. After that I was rescued by the king herself and asked to be his personal magician. I have been here since"

The blonde frowned, she would never have thought that the brunette would have had such a past but it was true that they barely knew each other, even if her eyes called her as if both of them knew each other since forever.

"And you are happy here?" The blonde asked cautiously while Regina tried not to cringe. She was free but not happy and she was starting to feel that she would never be.

"To be a knight you seem to be very curious" Said instead of answering and when she saw the pained look that Emma gave her she sighed, feeling the uneasiness of the blonde. "I apologize"

"You don't need to, I was prying. My apologies"

Both women looked at each other, quickly mesmerized by the gaze of the other, forest green against deep chocolate.

"Do you…" Regina heard herself muttering the words but couldn't stop them, her lips as dry as the rest of her mouth as Emma kept looking at her, high cheekbones framing incredible, magic ethereal features.

The world kept fading as Emma silently nodded her heart beating on her throat as she glanced quickly at those full lips that kept moving in what seemed a silent question.

And she was lost, her duty to the princess, the worries about the arranged marriage, her own future kept disappearing as Regina lift her hand and touched her skin, the brunette herself looking at her hand as if she really didn't knew why she was doing that.

But as Emma closed her eyes and let the tender skin of the darker woman wash over her like a powerful wave she suddenly felt as if she had been founded.

"Yes" She finally said, opening her eyes. "Yes, I feel it"

They didn't look around them, even if they knew that the danger of being caught was high, they simply couldn't pull their eyes from each other, the magic crackling in the air as Regina's hand kept touching Emma's, now flushed, skin.

"What is this?" Murmured the blonde and the other woman simply smiled, her lips wording a sentence that was the blonde's undoing:

"I think is true love"


End file.
